1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to the field of weight lifting apparatus and specifically to devices intended to protect or cushion the user's hands from the weights.
2. Background Information
Weight training uses a wide variety of equipment and devices to provide resistance. While machines in various configurations have become popular, barbells and dumbbells remain essential equipment. Dumbbells are especially popular due to the adaptability with which they can be used for a variety of exercises.
While the dumbbell is designed to be gripped with the bar essentially horizontal, certain weightlifting exercises require that the dumbbell be held with the bar in a substantially vertical position. Examples of such exercises include pullovers and hammer curls. With the dumbbell held in this position, the bar will typically slip through the users hand unless gripped very tightly. Such a grip is counter productive and still may not succeed in maintaining the position of the dumbbell. As a result, the dumbbell is most often held with the weights bearing against the side of the users hand or with the hands cupping the weights.
Either of the above positions can result in discomfort for the user. Where a dumbbell with interchangeable weight plates is used, there is typically a shoulder or collar at the juncture of the weight plate and the bar. This shoulder or collar creates a protruding ridge at the point where the user's hand would contact the weight plate with the dumbbell held vertically. This can be avoided by cupping the weights, but this approach has its own problems. Typically, the weight, or weight plates, are flat on the inner surface. The user's cupped hands form a generally concave shape. The result is that only the outer edges of the user's hands bear on the weight plate. Where dumbbells of fixed weight are used, the designers have more liberty to contour the shape of the weight portion. Even here, though, the shape is seldom optimal for the type of exercise addressed above.
Because of the relatively compact dimensions of dumbbells, there is usually little room to spare in the area between the weights where the bar is gripped. This factor, combined with the fact that the dumbbells are used for a variety of exercises, means that a permanent fixture, or pad, would not generally be an acceptable solution.
There is a need for a disk, or pad, which can be attached to a dumbbell when it is used for those exercises requiring a vertical alignment of the bar. This pad should be at least slightly resilient to provide padding. Ideally, the disk would present a convex surface which at least somewhat approximates the concave surface formed by the hands of a user cupping the weight which is at the end of a dumbbell. Preferably the disk should be easily removable to eliminate interference when not needed and so that the user can install and remove the disk at will, especially where using a shared set of dumbbells.